Avery Dennison plots growth in intelligent labeling

Avery Dennison has introduced a program focused on the opportunities presented by intelligent labeling.

Intelligent labeling applications are diverse

Its Intelligent Labelling offer brings together the supplier's portfolio of products for such applications. It is intended to support label converters in developing the opportunities in ‘smart’ labeling and packaging. With a very broad range of options, Avery Dennison stated that the portfolio ‘helps to maximize not only well understood capabilities, but also evolving state-of-the-art technologies’, such as RFID.

Intelligent labeling applications are diverse, but several areas where the technology is especially important are highlighted by Avery Dennison:

  • Inventory accuracy and supply chain optimization, helping businesses to ensure a more effective logistics process by using RFID to track anything from a single item to an entire pallet;
  • Product safety and product authenticity, with product expiration dates able to be monitored far more easily using RFID and commercial benefits that include first-in-first-out stock management; and
  • Content communication, allowing consumers to gain additional value through personalized content such as recipe suggestions, giving brands a valuable marketing opportunity. An RFID label can even be used to prompt re-ordering of food in a smart domestic fridge.

Michael Sanders, senior product line director of select and new growth platforms at Avery Dennison, explained that the opportunities opened up by intelligent labeling are enormous, and with the right support converters can create significant breakthroughs.

‘Converters are familiar with widely adopted barcodes and QR codes, including item-level customization using digital print – and this portfolio simplifies material choices as mass customization grows and label batches shrink. Digitally printed labels are set to grow further as brand owners seek fresher and more relevant communication with consumers via quick changeovers and variable information printing.

‘However, there is also huge untapped potential for more sophisticated technologies such as RFID. RFID options include UHF inlays, commonly used for item level tracking and visibility, and NFC inlays, increasingly being used for consumer engagement and payments. Packaging can be about far more than shelf impact – it can also transform logistics and enhance the consumer experience by enabling the connection to the digital world and the Internet of Things. We are excited about the growth potential for converters made possible through intelligent labeling.’

Sanders added that although intelligent labeling is exciting in terms of new business opportunities, converters have to make sure that their chosen option is both cost-effective and practical.

‘We offer all of the technical support, portfolio choices and service needed to make sure that converters see successful application outcomes. There is no doubt that intelligent labeling is an important direction of travel for the labeling industry, and as the world’s largest UHF RFID partner with over 800 patents and applications worldwide, Avery Dennison is committed to driving that movement. We are providing converters with not only the right products, but also initiatives such as our I.Lab facility in Oegstgeest, the Netherlands, where converters can see and experience the new technologies for themselves.’

Read more about active and intelligent packaging in L&L issue 1, 2018